Discovery Home & Health

hi,

im nearly 9 weeks pregnant and suffer from ibs. i was just wondering if anyone else suffered/suffers from this during their pregnancy and what i can expect. i have the worst symptoms of ibs the doctor knows but they have settled down a bit but im scared this is the calm before the storm. also i dont know if this has anything to do with me not suffering from any type of mornning sickness. i dont know if im happy that i havent had any sickness or to be worried! any help would be so nice

cat

Hi Cat,

I have sufered from IBS for two years and I was particularly worried about mine. I suffer with IBS (D) so I thought with all the hormones in my body being pregnant like when you have your period my IBS is always worse around then that I was in for a ruff ride.

I found though that it was completely different. My IBS was wonderful I had no problems at all. I did find though that when my morning sickness started my D got worse, but I was because I wasn't eating before I went to bed. If you can eat something light before you go to bed, then it will control your IBS through the night and you won't feel so crappy in the morning. The reason that your morning sickness is worse in the morning is becuase your stomach is empty. When I followed this my IBS was brilliant, better than it had been before I was pregnant.

I do know also that there are many IBS medications that are safe to take whilst pregnant. I was on anti-deps for my IBS, called ammitriptyine and I was allowed to continue using that during. Unfortunately I m/c a few weeks into my pregnancy and my IBS has been terrible since ironic hey... but I have an appointment with my specialist today so hopefully he can do something.

My best advice to you would be to see your GP or speck to your specialist and tell them that your pregnant and is it ok to continue your medication thoughout your pregnancy. If they aren't then there are so many out there than he could change you onto.

I wouldn't worry about the lack of morning sickness, I would be thanking the stars, count yourself lucky and enjoy it. If you need someone to talk to about this then please feel free to email me on katebarton@onetel.com

Let me know how you get on
Kate

Hi Cat

I have suffered on and off with IBS for many years and before I became pregnat managed to control my condition with healthy eating and exercise which sounds unbelievable when I know how badly I used to suffer. I am now 16 weeks pregnant and since 5 weeks my ibs has got progressively worse. I am now at a stage where I am desperately looking for ways to control the pain but so far have had no joy. Everything I eat creates some sort of reaction from mild to particularly severe - the pain has sometimes been unbearable!

I hope you continue to have a relatively easy time with regards the ibs. You may find it gets better as I have found a lot more information with this side of the story than what I am going through at the moment!

Keep to your usual routine as much as possible and make sure you get as much help from your GP as you need as it can be very confusing knowing what is right and what isn't. Hope things turn out well for you.

Nick